NCERT Solutions Class 12 Psychology Chapter 6 Attitude and Social Cognition
NCERT Solutions Class 12 Psychology Chapter 6 Attitude and Social Cognition: National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class 12 Psychology Chapter 6 Solutions – Attitude and Social Cognition.
Board |
NCERT |
Class |
12 |
Subject |
Psychology |
Chapter |
6 |
Chapter Name |
Attitude and Social Cognition |
Topic |
Exercise Solutions |
Chapter 6. Attitude and Social Cognition
Review Questions
1.) Define attitude. Discuss the components of an attitude.
Attitude is “a psychological construct that is a mental and emotional entity that inheres or characterizes a person, their attitude to approach to something or their personal view on it.”
All recognised definitions suggest that an attitude is a state of mind, a collection of viewpoints, or a set of concepts towards a topic (referred to as the “attitude object”) that includes an element of evaluation (positive, negative or neutral quality). Additionally, it has a tendency to act in a particular way toward the attitude object and an emotional component. The cognitive component is what we think, the emotional component is what we feel, and the behavioural (or conative) component is what we want to do.
These three facets of attitude have been together referred to as the A-B-C components (Affective-Behavioural-Cognitive components). Be aware that while attitudes might indicate a propensity for specific behaviours or actions, they are not behaviours in and of themselves. They cannot be seen from the outside; they are a part of cognition combined with an emotional component.
2.) Are attitudes learnt? Explain how?
Generally speaking, attitudes are formed via interactions with people and personal experiences. Several studies have shown that some components of attitudes may be intrinsic, even if attitudes are also indirectly influenced by learning and other genetic factors. Because of this, most social psychologists have focused on the conditions that encourage attitude learning. People may have varied attitudes as a result of various teaching methods and conditions.
- Learning attitudes by association: You may have noticed that a student’s enthusiasm for a subject is frequently influenced by their teacher. This is due to the fact that students associate the teacher’s numerous positive traits with the subject s/he teaches, which finally manifests as a fondness for the subject. In other words, a student learns a favourable attitude about the subject through a positive link with their teacher.
- Learning attitudes by being rewarded or punished: The likelihood that someone will continue to exhibit a given attitude is great if that person receives praise for displaying it. For instance, an adolescent who practises yoga consistently and wins the title of “Miss Good Health” at her school could change their perspective on yoga and health in general. Similarly to this, a youngster who frequently becomes sick from eating junk food instead of nutritious meals is likely to acquire a dislike for junk food as well as a preference for eating healthy food.
- Learning attitudes through modelling (observing others): We often learn attitudes through association rather than through reward and punishment. Instead, we learn them through seeing how others are treated when they express their views or behave in a certain way toward the attitude object. Children may develop a respectful attitude toward older people, for instance, by watching how their parents treat older people and how much it is appreciated.
- Learning attitudes through group or cultural norms: We frequently pick up attitudes from the standards of our culture or community. Norms are unwritten guidelines for appropriate behaviour that all people are expected to display in particular situations. These standards could eventually find their way into our social cognition in the form of attitudes. Learning attitudes through social or cultural norms may really be a combination of the three learning styles mentioned above: learning through association, learning through reinforcement or punishment, and learning through modelling. For instance, in certain religions, presenting cash, sweets, fruit, and flowers in a place of worship is considered proper conduct. Individuals may eventually adopt a favourable attitude about such behaviour and the accompanying emotions of devotion if they observe that such behaviour is displayed by others, is expected of them, and is socially acceptable.
- Learning through exposure to information: Although not always in the presence of others, many attitudes are learnt in a social environment. Due to the vast amount of information available nowadays through a variety of media, attitudes are developing on both the good and bad sides. An individual may form a favourable attitude about hard effort and other factors as the means of reaching success in life by reading the lives of self-actualized people.
3.) What are the factors that influence the formation of an attitude?
The context for acquiring new attitudes through processes is provided by the following elements:
- Family and School Environment: Parents and other family members are particularly important in the early years of life for influencing attitude development. Later, the educational setting has a significant role in forming attitudes. In the family and at school, attitudes are often learned through modelling, association, and rewards and punishments.
- Reference Groups: A person is given the norms of acceptable behaviour and thought patterns through reference groups. They so demonstrate how attitudes are learned through societal or cultural standards. Reference groups are frequently used to shape attitudes regarding a variety of topics, including political, religious, and social organisations, occupations, and other concerns. Their impact is most obvious during the start of adolescence, when it is crucial for the person to feel like a member of a group. As a result, learning through reward and punishment may also apply to the role of reference groups in attitude formation.
- Personal Experiences: Many attitudes are developed directly from personal experiences that cause a significant shift in how we view other people and our own lives, rather than in the context of the family or through reference groups. Here is a real-world illustration. A military driver had a life-changing incident that affected him personally. He narrowly avoided death on one expedition even though all of his allies perished. He left his position in the army, went back to his own village in Maharashtra, and actively participated in community leadership after questioning the meaning of his own life. This person developed a strong, positive attitude toward community uplift from a purely personal experience. His actions significantly altered how hamlet looked.
- Media-related Influences: Audiovisual media and the Internet are now extremely potent sources of information that influence attitude development and modification as a result of recent technological advancements. Additionally, textbooks used in schools have an impact on student’s attitudes. These sources bolster attitudes’ cognitive and emotive components first, which may later have an impact on the behavioural component. The media may have a positive or negative impact on attitudes. On the one hand, compared to traditional forms of communication, the media and the Internet improve people’s knowledge. On the other side, there could not be any controls on the type of data being gathered, and as a result, no control over the attitudes that are developing or the way in which attitudes are changing.
4.) Is behaviour always a reflection of one’s attitude? Explain with a relevant example.
Typically, we anticipate that attitudes will logically lead to behaviour. However, a person’s attitudes may not necessarily be demonstrated by their actions. Similarly, one’s behaviour may differ from how they feel about a certain subject. When an attitude is strong and has a key position in the attitude system, when the person is conscious of her or his attitude, and when there is little to no external pressure for the individual to behave in a specific manner, psychologists have discovered that attitudes and behaviour are consistent. When, for instance, no one is pressuring the person to adhere to a specific standard, no one is observing or evaluating the person’s behaviour, and the person believes that the behaviour will have a favourable outcome, they are more likely to engage in it.
Richard LaPiere, an American social psychologist, carried out the following study during the time when it was believed that Americans had prejudices towards Chinese people. He asked a Chinese couple to tour the length and breadth of the country, staying in various hotels. Only once on these instances did one of the hotels refuse to serve them. Later, LaPiere distributed questionnaires to owners of hotels and vacation rentals in the same regions as the Chinese couple’s travels, requesting their willingness to accommodate Chinese visitors. A sizable portion said that they would not. Contrary to the pleasant behaviour that was really displayed for the travelling Chinese couple, this remark displayed a negative attitude about Chinese people.
Thus, attitudes may not always accurately anticipate a person’s actual behavioural pattern.
5.) Highlight the importance of schemas in social cognition.
All mental operations that include gathering and processing information together are referred to as “cognition.” The phrase “social cognition” refers to all those psychological processes that deal with the collection and processing of information pertaining to social objects, extending this concept to the social realm. These encompass all of the methods used to comprehend, justify, and interpret social behaviour. Processing information about social objects, such as people, groups, relationships, and social concerns, is done differently from processing information about physical items. As the cognitive process progresses, people as social objects may alter. In contrast to a teacher who sees the student in the classroom, a student’s mother may observe her/him at home and have entirely different opinions on him/her. The student may behave differently depending on who is watching them—the teacher or the mother.
A schema is described as a conceptual framework, collection of rules, or set of instructions for processing data about any object. Schemas, also known as “schemata,” are the fundamental elements that make up human memory. They serve as quick means to digest information, which cuts down on the time and effort needed for cognition. Social schemas are the fundamental building blocks of social cognition. In some cases, attitudes can act as social schemas. We employ a wide variety of schemas and learn about them through analysis and use cases.
6.) Differentiate between prejudice and stereotype.
An attitude against a particular group is exemplified by prejudice. They are often negative and frequently based on cognitive biases (the cognitive component) against the particular group. A stereotype is a collection of beliefs about the traits of a certain group, as will be covered in more detail below in the section on social cognition. These qualities are assumed to be shared by all members of this group. Frequently, stereotypes are made up of unfavourable traits about the target group, and they produce unfavourable attitudes or biases toward members of particular groups.
Stereotypes are category-based schemas that are connected to certain social groupings. These category-based schemas are too generic, implicitly verified, and exception-free. Consider that you must define the group G. You will probably use your “general knowledge” about the typical group G member if you haven’t directly known or interacted with a member of this group. You will include your preferences with that data. If you have heard more positive things about group G as a whole, your social schema will be more favourable than adverse. On the other hand, if you have come across more unfavourable stereotypes about group G, your social schema will resemble one of those. Your conclusions are based on preconceived notions about a certain group rather than rational reasoning or personal experience. The next time you really see someone from group G, your perception of them and how you treat them will be coloured by your stereotype. As was previously said, stereotypes serve as a breeding ground for prejudice and intolerance towards particular populations. However, biases can also grow independently of preconceptions.
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7.) Prejudice can exist without discrimination and vice versa. Comment.
Prejudice’s emotive component, dislike or hatred, frequently coexists with its cognitive component. The behavioural component of prejudice, discrimination, is when people act in a less favourable manner toward one target group than they do toward another group they favour. Numerous instances of racial and social class- or caste-based prejudice may be found throughout history. The Nazi extermination of Jews in Germany is a stark illustration of how prejudice can breed hatred, discrimination, and the wholesale murder of innocent people.
Prejudices may exist even when they do not manifest as discrimination. Similar to prejudice, discrimination may be demonstrated. However, the two frequently go together. Conflicts between groups living in the same society are highly likely to occur anywhere prejudice and discrimination exist. Injustices against people based on their gender, religion, community, caste, physical disability, or diseases like AIDS are all too common in our own culture. Additionally, discriminating behaviour is frequently subject to legal restraint. The cognitive and emotional roots of bias, however, are more challenging to address.
8.) Describe the important factors that influence impression formation.
The following features of impression generation have been observed:
- The following three subprocesses make up the impression creation process: Only a few pieces of information about the target are taken into account, the information is organised in a systematic fashion, and the target’s character is inferred as a result of steps (a) through (c).
- Different attributes have different effects on how impressions are formed.
- The manner in which information is presented impacts the impression that is made. Generally speaking, the information that is offered first has a bigger impact than the information that is presented last. It’s known as the primacy effect (first impressions are the lasting impressions). The information that arrives last may have a greater impact, though, if the perceiver is urged to pay attention to all of it rather than just the initial bit of information. The recency effect refers to this.
- We have a propensity to assume that a target individual who possesses one set of good traits must also possess additional particular positive traits that are connected to the first set. The halo effect is a name for this. For instance, if someone is described as “tidy” and “punctual,” we are inclined to assume that they are also “hard-working.”
9.) Explain how the attribution made by an ‘actor’ would be different from that of an ‘observer’.
There is also a distinction between the attribution of one’s own positive and negative experiences (actor-role) and the attribution of one’s own positive and negative experiences to others (observer-role). The actor-observer effect refers to this. For instance, if you perform well on a test, you may credit your own skill or diligence (actor-role, internal attribution for a positive experience). If you receive poor grades, you will excuse it by claiming that you were unlucky or that the test was too challenging (actor-role, external attribution for a negative experience).
On the other hand, if one of your classmates performs well on the exam, you will likely blame chance or an easy examination for their achievement (observer-role, external attribution for a positive experience). If a classmate receives poor grades, you are probably going to blame them on their incapability or lack of effort (observer role, internal attribution for a negative experience). People desire to have a positive perception of themselves in comparison to others, which is the fundamental distinction between the actor and spectator roles.
10.) How does social facilitation take place?
One of the earliest social behaviour findings was that performance on particular activities is affected by the mere presence of others. We refer to this as social facilitation. Reena, for instance, is set to take part in a music competition. Despite her great skill, she is anxious about the occasion. Would you perform better in front of an audience or on your own, if you were in Reena’s position? Norman Triplett made the observation that people do better in groups than they do when they are working alone as early as 1897. For instance, competitive cyclists who ride together do better than those who ride alone. With time, more information concerning this occurrence became known.
In other words, the presence of others may either assist and promote work performance or hinder and deteriorate it. There are a variety of different societal influences that have been noted. If we are working in a group, for instance, the larger the group, the less effort each member puts out. This behaviour, which is predicated on the distribution of responsibility, is known as social loafing. In circumstances when others are expected to assist, it is common to observe the diffusion of responsibility, which frequently serves as the foundation for social loafing.
11.) Explain the concept of pro-social behaviour.
Being kind and helpful to others is praised as a virtue all throughout the world. We learn to aid people in need from all major religions. Helping or pro-social behaviour is what we refer to as this behaviour. Prosocial behaviour is extremely similar to “altruism,” which is defined as acting in another person’s best interests or considering their wellbeing without regard for oneself (in Latin, “alter” means “other,” as opposed to “ego,” which means “self”). Sharing, working together, assisting during natural disasters, displaying sympathy, doing favours for others, and making charity contributions are a few typical instances of pro-social behaviour.
Following are some traits of pro-social behaviour. It must: (1) have as its goal the improvement or benefit of another person or persons; (2) be performed without expecting anything in return; (3) be performed voluntarily by the person giving assistance and not under any pressure; and (4) involve some difficulty or “cost” to the person providing assistance.
This cannot be referred to be “pro-social behaviour,” even though the contribution may benefit many others, if a wealthy individual contributes a large sum of money that was gained illegally with the expectation that her/his name and image would appear in the headlines. Pro-social behaviour is highly valued and important, although it is not consistently exhibited by people. The community rallied to aid the bomb victims in whatever way they could following the Mumbai explosions on July 11, 2006.
On a previous instance, though, no one stepped forward to assist a female who was having her pocketbook stolen while on a moving commuter train in Mumbai. The girl was tossed off of the train since the other passengers did nothing to assist. People residing in the nearby buildings did not come to the girl’s aid while she lay wounded on the railroad tracks.
12.) Your friend eats too much junk food, how would you be able to bring about a change in her/his attitude towards food?
The fact that my friend enjoys junk food will inspire him or her. To alter his or her outlook on eating, one might employ the following techniques:
The first thing that has to be addressed is the cognitive aspect of a person’s positive attitude toward junk food, or how they think about it. To encourage the individual to alter their attitude, both rational and emotional arguments may be made, and if required, the support of a dietician with a stellar reputation in this area would be very beneficial. Changes in attitude might result from:
- Encouraging him or her to read about the elements, such as minerals and other substances that are absent from junk food, that are necessary for a healthy growth.
- By giving him or her examples from real life, you may demonstrate the harmful effects of consuming junk food, such as obesity and other health issues.
- Ask the relatives, elders, and teachers he or she likes to be in his or her circle of influence. They will mimic their behaviour if they serve as a role model, for example, by not consuming junk food.
- Allowing the person to choose and take the time to examine what is best for them, taking into account both the food’s positive and negative features, while also encouraging them to concentrate and consider any potential issues resulting from their choice in foods.
All of these factors have the potential to cause cognitive dissonance, which can eventually lead to a shift in attitude.
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